Renting with a pet in Ottawa
The local picture
Ottawa shares a housing market with Gatineau, across the river in Quebec. Plenty of people looking for a place look on both sides.
It is also a university city, with the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and Algonquin College, and many of its renters are students in shared houses and apartments. On the Ontario side, the Residential Tenancies Act applies to all of them, and a no-pets clause in the lease cannot be enforced once they are tenants.
The law, which is the same everywhere in Ontario
A “no pets” clause does not bind you in Ontario
Section 14 of the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 makes any term in a tenancy agreement that prohibits animals in or about the building void. Once you are a tenant, a no-pets clause cannot be enforced, whatever the lease says. The rule protects tenants, not applicants: a landlord can still ask whether you have a pet and turn down an application because of one.
If a landlord later tries to end a tenancy over an animal, section 76 lets the Landlord and Tenant Board order an eviction only if it is satisfied that the animal’s behaviour has substantially interfered with others’ reasonable enjoyment of the building, that it has caused the landlord or another tenant a serious allergic reaction, or that the species or breed is inherently dangerous. A landlord cannot take a pet deposit either: the only deposit allowed is a rent deposit of no more than one month’s rent (sections 105 and 106).
Condominium rules are separate. The Condominium Act requires everyone living in a unit, tenants included, to comply with the condominium’s declaration, by-laws and rules, and those can restrict pets. How Ontario’s no-pets rule works, and where it stops.
Disputes go to the Landlord and Tenant Board.
The Ontario rule stops at the river
Everything on this page about no-pets clauses being void is Ontario law. It applies in Ottawa, Kanata and Orléans. It does not apply in Gatineau, where leases fall under the Civil Code of Québec and disputes go to the Tribunal administratif du logement.
Quebec’s position on no-pets clauses is not Ontario’s, and it has been contested at that tribunal. If you are choosing between a flat on each side of the river and the pet matters, treat them as two different legal systems and check the Quebec side separately. We do not sell in Quebec and do not try to cover its law here.
Practical notes for Ottawa
- The City of Ottawa requires cats and dogs to be registered, renewed every year, and allows at most five cats and dogs in one home.
- Community Legal Services of Ottawa gives free housing law help to low-income tenants in the city.
- The University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic helps eligible low-income residents, and undergraduate students at the University of Ottawa and Carleton, with tenant problems.
- Tenant Duty Counsel gives tenants free summary legal advice before a Landlord and Tenant Board hearing.
What there is to buy
A letter, if you would like help with one. We write the pet request letter from your answers, for Ontario, with a one-page pet resume to go with it: $35 on its own, or $55 with the certificate. Or copy the free letter template and write it yourself: it is the same kind of letter. Neither obliges a landlord to agree. We would rather you sent a good letter than no letter.
One payment, delivered by email. With the certificate and card, $55 for both. Prices are in US dollars. Any sales tax is calculated by Creem and shown at checkout before you pay.
Not a legal document. Canada ESA Register is a private service, not a government body, and no official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada. It does not give you a legal right to keep a pet, to housing, or to access with your animal.
Other cities
Not a legal document. Canada ESA Register is a private service, not a government body, and no official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada. This page is general information about renting in Ontario, not legal advice.